30 Day Kick Start Plan: 100 Delicious Recipes with Energy Boosting Workouts

By Joe Wicks

Bringing motivation to the nation!

Want to cook better, healthier food? Know what you should do, but don't know where to start?

This 30-day plan from the nation's favourite PE teacher will help you create new habits, keep on track and feel brilliant inside and out.

Food and fitness sensation Joe Wicks, aka the Body Coach, has helped millions of people to keep fit and cook healthy, simple recipes. He's back with his 30 Day Kick Start Plan to make it easier than ever before to make healthy food, lose weight and get more active.

Inside are one hundred delicious, sustaining recipes and six brand-new HIIT workouts to help you get in shape. Combined with weekly plans that can help you prep like a boss, this approach is easy to personalize according to your own day-to-day habits and will help everyone kick start a healthier lifestyle without looking back.

The man who kept the nation moving during lockdown, Joe has sold more than 3 million books in the UK alone. He has more than 4 million followers on social media, where fans share their journeys towards a leaner, fitter lifestyle. All of his books have been non-fiction number one bestsellers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan
• Release date: Nov 26, 2020
• ISBN: 9781509856190

Joe Wicks

Joe Wicks, known as “The Body Coach,” is Britain's favorite healthy cook and fitness sensation. His lockdown smash-hit PE With Joe YouTube videos have been viewed 80 million times. He is the multi-bestselling author of Lean in 15—The Shift Plan, Lean in 15—The Shape Plan, Lean in 15—The Sustain Plan, The Fat-Loss Plan, Cooking for Family and Friends, Joe’s 30-Minute Meals, Veggie Lean in 15, Wean in 15, and 30 Day Kick Start Plan. He lives in Santa Monica, California, and London, UK.

Book preview

HELLO

I’m Joe Wicks, aka The Body Coach, and I’ve dedicated the past 10 years of my life to helping people get fitter, stronger and healthier. I started as a young and ambitious personal trainer, working with clients one-to-one and running my own outdoor boot camps. I then took all my passion and energy for motivating and inspiring people, and put it into my books, social media and, most recently, my new The Body Coach fitness app. Nothing makes me happier than knowing I’ve helped someone on their journey to become healthier and happier. It’s the driving force behind everything I do – and really, I believe it to be my purpose in life.

When I started out, success in the fitness industry was predominantly about physical transformation and those impressive ‘before and after’ images you see on social media. Those images are still what many want to see, because they are inspirational and can spark change in people’s lives. They motivate a lot of people to get up and start working out. In those days, the language I used on social media and in my early books emphasized the promise of ‘fat loss’ and ‘gaining lean muscle’, and how my plan would make you look. I rarely spoke about how regular exercise and healthy food could make you feel!

Having worked with hundreds of thousands of people, I’ve come to realize that the things you can’t see are actually more important and powerful than the things you can. Exercise isn’t just about looking good; it’s about feeling good, mentally strong, energized, optimistic, confident and in control. Exercise can play a huge part in helping people manage anxiety, depression, low self-esteem and stress. The more people I help, the more I understand that it’s this inner transformation that I need to be talking about. I’m changing the narrative and shining a light on the wellbeing and mental-health benefits of exercise because I know that focusing on how you feel is the fastest way to living a healthy and happy life.

When you shift your goal from meeting a particular body image to achieving a good state of being (in which you’re both emotionally balanced and mentally strong), that’s when you find true motivation. That’s when you want to take action, gain momentum and sustain a positive lifestyle. When you do that for long enough and have a strong mindset as a result, you will also be naturally burning body fat, building muscle and transforming your body physically.

I’ve been on my own personal journey with health and fitness over the years. In my teenage years, I was very motivated by a desire to get stronger, build muscle and change the way I felt about my skinny body. I wasn’t confident and was concerned about how other people perceived how I looked. This state of mind lasted into my early 20s. Now, at 34 and as a dad of two young kids, my motivation to exercise has changed completely. I don’t worry about what other people think and I don’t exercise just to look a certain way. I exercise to feel happy and positive every day, and I eat healthy food to feel energized.

I’m often asked what inspires me to exercise all year round – even on holiday, during the winter months or when I’m not getting much sleep. The answer is always the same: I exercise because it makes me feel happy. I need it in my life. It’s not optional for me: it’s essential, because it makes me a better person. I sleep better. I’m more productive, more energized, more ambitious. I’m more patient with my kids and I’m a better husband; I’m less stressed, calmer and nicer to be around. So for me, exercise is a daily ritual I can’t go without.

With our modern lifestyles, it’s now even easier to be sedentary and put on extra weight. And it seems more people than ever are becoming stressed, anxious and depressed. If you feel that way, it’s time to take action. Now is the time to take the small steps to overcome what’s holding you back, to allow you to live your life to the fullest. It’s time for you to feel happy, strong and confident.

30 Day Kick Start Plan is going to do just that. It’s going to kick start a new life for you, building healthy habits and daily routines to ensure you can succeed in the long term.

Give me just 30 days and follow this plan. Commit to it and you will feel the benefits. You are quickly going to feel more energized, happier, calmer and more motivated, and you will sleep better. This is not an extreme plan, and it’s not unrealistic or unsustainable. It’s a simple and achievable lifestyle change. You can tailor it according to your experience and lifestyle, whether you’re new to fitness and healthy living or you’ve recently fallen out of your positive routine. It’s about really quick and tasty home-cooked food and regular home workouts. Many people believe it takes 21 days to form a new habit, so with 30 days, you can not only form great healthy-living habits but also start to cement them for the long term. If you really stick to the 30 Day Kick Start Plan, you will have the tools in place to unlock your happiness, control your energy and generally kick ass and feel like a winner. Are you ready to kick start your life? Are you ready to own it and be in control? Let’s do it. Let’s light it up. When you lose the excuses, you will find your success.

Good luck. Enjoy the journey. It’s just 30 days. One day at a time.

WHY 30 DAYS?

When I first started my online fitness business, I launched my 90 Day Plan, split into three cycles of 30 days each. It consists of home workouts and a tailored meal plan, and gets incredible results for those who fully commit and see it through, but I’d be lying if I said everyone who signs up goes on to complete all three cycles. These are the biggest challenges people face: motivation and consistency!

I’ve always offered support to get everyone who signs up to complete the plan, but unfortunately, many people still lose motivation and drop off after the first month.

I’ve always asked myself, why does this happen? How come some people commit to it, smash it and stick it out, while others fall off the wagon right away? How can I help people change their habits and implement new ones that stick?

I made the plan 90 days because I don’t believe in crash diets and quick fixes. I wanted to create a sustainable long-term plan that would get great results. Three months seemed like a manageable timeframe for people to get stuck in and not feel overwhelmed. I don’t think many people would have signed up to the ‘Forever Plan’, even though that’s what I personally see the plan as. Fitness and strength can be gained over 90 days, but in order to keep that progress and maintain it, you have to be working on it all year round, and this takes a lot of effort.

What I realize now is that motivation is strongest during the first 30 days, which is why I’ve decided to create this 30 Day Kick Start Plan. During the first 30 days, people feel motivated and inspired – spurred on by the initial weight loss and increased energy as they switch from a sedentary lifestyle to an active one.

Long-term behavioural change is one of the hardest things to achieve, especially when it comes to fitness and nutrition. Years of unhealthy eating habits or neglecting regular exercise can make changes seem overwhelming. That’s why I’m sharing my strategies to help keep you motivated – not just at the start of the plan but all year round (see page 26).

There are also many emotional and psychological barriers to contend with. When we are stressed, anxious, depressed or tired, our food choices can often be unhealthy. People can overeat or under-eat as a coping mechanism. We also live in an environment where there is temptation and food to grab on every corner.

Over the next 30 days, I want to unlock the potential in you. I’m not promising a radical fat-loss transformation, but that’s not my gauge of success here. I’m promising that you will sleep better and have more energy, and that you’ll feel happier, less stressed and more motivated every day. I want this plan to launch you into a new way of life and get you so lit that you don’t want to stop. I know that you can succeed if you choose to. So, do you choose to? Are you fed up of feeling the way you do? Are you willing to work for your goals? Are you ready to commit for 30 days and not give up? Let’s do it. You can change and transform your life.

LET’S GET INTO THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THINGS

I believe that in order to transform yourself physically, you need to understand yourself mentally and emotionally. It’s important for you to understand what is driving you to change, what motivates you – and also what demotivates you and causes you to give up. When you understand what holds you back, you can start to acknowledge these things sooner and put strategies in place to avoid them.

I want to start by asking you a series of questions to help you dive into your motivation and learn a little bit about your psychology. It’s not a test; it’s just a useful and insightful exercise to help you understand yourself better. You may find it easy, or you may find it difficult and quite an emotional thing to do. Try to open up and be honest with yourself. Let any emotions and feelings surface and then you can let go of them. This exercise can help you release any negativity holding you back and allow your mind to set new, positive belief systems.

Find the questions over the page, and write down your answers in a notebook. If you prefer, you can use notes or voice notes on your phone or you can just answer the questions in your mind. All you need is 15 to 30 minutes of uninterrupted quiet time to explore the reasons why you’re ready to kick start new habits.

I really hope exercise helps you think differently about your future. Change and transformation is possible with the right mindset. The answer to the last question is probably the most important of all: the answer you gave is the result you will achieve.

I ALWAYS FIND THIS HELPS ME TO GET ON TRACK AND I HOPE IT HELPS YOU!

1 Why did you pick up this book?

2 What is it you want to change in your life?

3 How long have you been wanting to change?

4 In the past, what or who has stopped you from succeeding?

5 What emotions or situations (if any) lead you to binge on food?

6 What emotions or situations (if any) lead to you under-eating or neglecting your food intake?

7 What events or experiences in your life have affected your physical or mental health?

8 Do you have any memories or negative thoughts you want to let go of?

9 When do you feel motivated?

10 What makes you feel demotivated?

11 How do you feel about your current levels of fitness?

12 How do you feel after you exercise?

13 How do you feel about your current diet?

14 What does a successful day look like to you?

15 What does an unsuccessful day look like to you?

16 How confident do you feel right now?

17 When was the last time you felt fit, happy and confident?

18 What would make you feel more confident?

19 What do you want to achieve with 30 Day Kick Start Plan?

20 Do you believe you can succeed?

WHAT DOES THE PLAN INVOLVE?

30 Day Kick Start Plan consists of four main pillars which I’ve found to be fundamental to success in my physical and mental health. Each pillar will be used to lay the foundations for your new lifestyle, and they are equally important. For example, poor-quality sleep or not enough sleep will affect your motivation to set goals, prepare healthy food and exercise, so putting effort into all of the following is key.

1 NUTRITION

You will have a flexible, simple, structured meal plan to follow.

2 FITNESS

You will have an exercise plan to follow at home.

3 SLEEP

You will focus on improving the quality of your sleep, which is absolutely essential to success.

4 GOAL SETTING

You will set small daily and weekly goals and learn strategies to achieve and maintain a winner’s mindset each day.

PILLAR ONE

NUTRITION

Here are the